Pregnancy causes a lot of changes to a woman’s body. Many of these changes can affect the bladder, and can cause incontinence. There are some things that you can do to help control your bladder during pregnancy.

Products

Many women prefer to use continence care products when they experience incontinence during pregnancy, in conjunction with other methods. The right product can help give peace of mind, and increase your confidence. It can take some time to find the right product for you, but using a reliable supplier like HARTMANN Direct is an absolute must. Finding that you have run out of continence care products can be very stressful, so having a supplier who is reputable, and can deliver direct to your door is so very important.

Pelvic Floor Exercises

Almost every pregnant woman is told about the importance of pelvic floor exercises. There’s two types of pelvic floor exercises – fast contraction, and slow contraction. In slow contraction, you pull the muscles of the pelvic floor up, and hold the position for ten seconds. In fast contraction, you pull the muscles up, and hold the position for one second. You should try to do a set of five slow contraction exercises, followed by a set of ten fast contraction exercise, and ending with another set of five slow contractions. You should try to do these exercises regularly throughout the day. Some health-care providers recommend doing them as you do something that you would do every day, such as washing the dishes, loading the laundry, or collecting the mail. Pelvic floor exercises can help strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, which reduces the risk of incontinence.

Empty Your Bladder

The need to urinate changes during pregnancy, and you may feel that you need to go to the toilet much more often than normal. During urination, you should try to fully empty your bladder. During the first trimester of pregnancy, your hormonal changes affect how often you need to urinate. Some women don’t experience frequent urination during the second trimester, but the feeling usually returns in the third trimester as the baby grows, and the uterus places more pressure on the bladder.

Limit Your Beverage Intake

You should always drink 6-8 glasses of water per day, but you should limit your intake of other beverages. Alcohol and caffeine are advised in moderation only during pregnancy, and these beverages may exacerbate urinary incontinence as well. Guidelines for pregnancy suggest that caffeine should be limited to one 12oz cup of coffee, or three cups of tea per day. Alcohol should be limited to one or two units per week during pregnancy.

Keep A Bladder Log During Pregnancy Diary

You should keep a log of the instances of urine leakage. There may be a pattern to your incontinence and you may be able to plan bathroom trips, preventing accidents. Not all types of incontinence have a pattern, so this doesn’t work for everyone. However, even if there is no pattern, you may notice that some liquids have a greater effect on your need to urinate than others.

Avoid Constipation

Constipation is a common pregnancy related complaint. Many people believe that constipation will only affect the bowel, but it does place extra pressure on the bladder as well. You should try to avoid becoming constipated as much as you can. Your health-care provider can advise you on how to prevent constipation during pregnancy, but generally, this will involve adding more fibre into your diet.

Prevent And Treat UTI’s

Urinary tract infections can also be common in pregnancy, but they can have an impact on incontinence. You can help to prevent them buy drinking plenty of water, emptying your bladder during urination, and wearing loose fitting clothes made from natural materials. If you do develop a UTI, you need to treat it as soon as possible. Untreated infections can develop into a kidney infection, which is much more serious for pregnancy. Kidney infections can lead to early labour, and low birth weight babies. Your doctor will be able to provide an antibiotic to treat the infection that is safe for use during pregnancy.

In the majority of pregnancy incontinence cases, the symptoms lessen, or completely disappear a few weeks after the birth. The pressure and stress of pregnancy is no longer present, and the uterus, bladder and urethra move back into their original positions. However, in some cases, other treatments may be necessary after the birth, such as surgical options, medication, or other forms of medical intervention.